The Value Of The One Page Strategic Plan

The Value Of The One Page Strategic Plan.

What does a one page strategic plan offer your business? The most profitable businesses with great corporate culture have one thing in common. A unified direction.

However, Not every company has prioritized taking the necessary time to develop or revisit their in-depth business plan to align corporate divisions. Attributing it to the demand of keeping up with operations on a daily basis requiring.

We are here to tell you that it is vital to the health and profitability of all companies to stop and do this reflection, document priorities, goals, and action items. Then distribute them throughout the organization to ensure alignment across all departments.

Big picture vision, values, brand promise, objective targets, and an analysis of strengths and weaknesses are all the key components of an extensive business plan that should be condensed into a single document.

Behold the One Page Strategic Plan! A key resource that even the busiest of businesses should leverage to see the results that come as a result of aligning company goals to drive action and create accountability.

Management and employees are expected to remember everything from a 102-page operational business plan, in reality, this is difficult.

A single page, which focuses on the highest priorities can give everyone the clarity necessary to reach the organization’s potential while holding everyone accountable.

Establishing the lofty big picture vision is crucial to provide direction to your organization’s shorter-term goals. It becomes the benchmark for making decisions. Are short-term goals and actions resulting in the realization of your long-term plans?

Bill Gates & Microsoft had the vision to have a computer in every home. This single focused vision helped his team decide on what actions to take while building Microsoft on a daily basis.

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN:PURPOSE

Your Aspirational goal is the big picture. The purpose is the driving force behind this goal. The why, which inevitably shapes the how.

For example, in the case of Microsoft, the goal was to put a computer in every house. The purpose may be so that every house in the world can leverage technology in a way that improves quality of life.

This would ultimately drive the company to invest capital and resources into building a product that was simple enough for the average person to adopt, at a price point they can afford.

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN: CORE VALUES & PRINCIPLES

Values are the foundation of your business that drives purpose. It is important to assess the culture of your business and build on your natural strengths while understanding inherent weaknesses.

These unique values will be at the core of all your decisions and help establish a framework for decision making.

Ray Dalio, the Founder and CIO of Bridgewater Associates (One of the largest private hedge funds in the world), believes so profoundly in the concept of establishing clear principles that he wrote a book on the subject. Sharing the very principles that guide Bridgewater, while serving as a resource for individuals to reflect and understand their own guiding principles.

“Principles are systematic ways of interacting with reality in order to get what you value most.” -Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN: BRAND PROMISE

A brand promise is a commitment your company makes to your customers and stakeholders. Make sure it’s clearly articulated.

Here are a few great examples from some of the world’s leading companies:

Nike: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. Geico: “15 minutes or less can save you 15% or more on car insurance.” Marriott: “Quiet luxury. Crafted experiences. Intuitive service.”

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN: KPI’s

Having all these lofty goals, a foundation for corporate culture and a brand promise is a great start. However, it is vital to design a system that can quantify and validate your efforts.

Employee Satisfaction: In the end, most businesses are run by people. Having happy, fulfilled people will impact your bottom line and goal achievement positively. Develop a practical approach to tracking progress with employee satisfaction.

Customer Life-Time-Value (LTV): Otherwise known as a churn rate. Does your business need to continuously acquire new customers because existing ones are no longer satisfied or incentivized to purchase additional products and services?

This is one place that most companies end up leaving the most money on the table. Remember, your existing customer is the best customer!

Best & Worst Products: The Pareto Principle at work here. How much revenue is being driven by your best products and services? What services are consuming excess resources and don’t deliver much value to your bottom line? Establish a system for distinguishing your best products and services from your worst!

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN: ELEVATOR PITCH

Does everyone in your company know how to describe the activities of your business to a perfect stranger? Especially in a concise, direct manner that is consistent with your goals, values, and promise?

You would be amazed at how many individuals within an organization are not aligned on this.

Time to get everyone on the same page!

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN: 3 – 5 YEAR TARGET

Breaking your big picture goals into smaller ones helps ensure your business is on track. Market conditions and new technologies may impact your decisions in the short term. It’s important to adjust this strategy as necessary while keeping the aspirational goal in mind.

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN: 1 YEAR TARGET

How can you break down your 3- 5-year targets into an annual priority? Decide which aspect of your business growth is the top priority for the next 365 days. Adjusting annually to meet your longer-term goals.

When your organization is aligned with a single point of action, you’ll be amazed to see the results you can achieve.

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN: 90 DAY TARGET

Most businesses are focused on the quarterly results. This ensures we are accountable to our annual plan and gives everyone in an organization specific actions that should be a priority; while creating accountability.

ONE PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN: STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

Taking an honest inventory of a company’s strengths and weaknesses will provide key insights into what needs to be leveraged. It’ll also help your organization focus on strengthening weaknesses in the 90 day, 1 year and 3 – 5-year targets.

Customer service may be an area that a company struggles with (resulting in a less than ideal customer LTV). Upon acceptance of this, teams can focus on ways to implement change that align with core values to achieve business targets.

Building a business usually involves growth within the company. Whether that is hiring a new person to tackle critical responsibilities, investing in some new equipment & technologies, or finding a 3rd party business partnership that will add value to your clients’ lives.

Regardless of your business needs, it is essential to document these items on your one-page strategic plan. Go as far as creating a schedule for acquiring these vital resources.

Last but certainly not least, a one-page strategic plan is designed to develop a laser focus on the forces that drive revenue for your company.

Many businesses find themselves engaged in activities that are producing minimal results. The Pareto Principle illustrates this point perfectly, by stating that 80% of our results come from 20% of our activities.

What are the 20% of activities generating 80% of your results? It’s time to focus internal resources on growing that aspect of your business while cutting back on the inefficient activities that are consuming resources.